YouTube exposure grows in France

PARIS: YouTube, the video site, is increasingly becoming part of everyday life in France, as a new report charts its rise up the rankings of brands to which consumers are most exposed.

The Barometer Havas Media POE 2014 looked at public exposure to 179 brands through paid, owned and earned media by way of a survey of more than 4,500 consumers.

In the latest iteration of this study, Google, the internet giant, remained in top spot, followed by social networking site Facebook. Then came two French television channels: TF1 and M6.

YouTube, however, leapt from 12th place to fifth. It has been very active in France – a little over a year ago, it launched 13 premium TV channels in the country, working with content partners such as Endemol and Capa. And, more recently, pay-TV broadcaster Canal+ also partnered with YouTube to launch 20 new channels.

Soft drinks giant Coca-Cola was in sixth place, with another TV channel, France 2, in seventh, and telecoms business Orange in eighth. France 3, the TV channel, and Renault, the automaker, were new entrants in the top ten, in ninth and tenth places respectively.

Canal+, fast food chain McDonald's and consumer electronics giant Samsung were the brands pushed out of the top ten, falling to 11th, 12th and 20th respectively.

Paid media continued to have the greatest effect on consumers, accounting for 54% of the total impact, the study reported. But this figure was on an accelerating downward trend. In 2010, paid media had accounted for 60% of impact, slipping to 59% in 2011 and 58% in 2012.

Advertising represented the bulk of consumers' perception of paid media, on 79%, with brochures and email on 14% and sponsorship on 7%.

Owned media, static on 30% for three years, moved up to 32% in 2013, with perception roughly equally divided between point of sale (46%) and websites (42%).

Earned media also added two percentage points to 14%, largely due to opinions posted by internet users.